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Topic Professional Subtopic Communication Skills Building a Better Vocabulary Course Guidebook Professor Kevin Flanigan West Chester University of Pennsylvania PUBLISHED BY: THE GREAT COURSES Corporate Headquarters 4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500 Chantilly, Virginia 20151-2299 Phone: 1-800-832-2412 Fax: 703-378-3819 www.thegreatcourses.com Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2015 Printed in the United States of America This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company. Kevin Flanigan, Ph.D. Professor of Education West Chester University of Pennsylvania P rofessor Kevin Flanigan is a Professor of Education in the Literacy Department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught since 2003. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington), where he received a B.A. in History, summa cum laude. Later, he received an M.Ed. from James Madison University and an M.Ed. in Reading Education from the University of Virginia. After working as a middle grades classroom teacher and reading specialist, he received his Ph.D. in Reading Education from the University of Virginia, with a dissertation on emergent readers’ developing concept of word in text. Professor Flanigan’s research, publications, and presentations focus on developmental word knowledge, vocabulary development and instruction, and interventions for students who struggle with literacy skills. He has presented frequently at national and international conferences and works with schools and teachers to implement effective literacy instruction. In 2011, Professor Flanigan was nominated for the U.S. Professors of the Year Award by West Chester University. In 2009, Professor Flanigan and his colleagues received an Educator 500 award for innovative teaching in the Kennett Experience, a university–public school partnership. Professor Flanigan teaches graduate and undergraduate literacy education courses and works in the West Chester University Reading Center, where he supervises graduate-level teachers as they work with students in kindergarten through 12th grade who struggle with literacy skills. 3URIHVVRU )ODQLJDQ LV ¿UVW DXWKRU RI WKH FRDXWKRUHG ERRN Words Their Way with Struggling Readers: Word Study for Reading, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, Grades 4–12. He is also coauthor of Vocabulary Their i Way: Word Study with Middle and Secondary Students (2nd edition) and Developing Word Recognition. In addition, Professor Flanigan is a member of the authorship team for Vocabulary Their Way: Words and Strategies for Academic Success, a vocabulary program for middle school students. The professor has authored or coauthored articles in a number of professional journals, including The Reading Teacher, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and the Journal of Literacy ResearchŶ ii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION Professor Biography ............................................................................i Course Scope .....................................................................................1 LECTURE GUIDES LECTURE 1 Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary .............................................3 LECTURE 2 The Spelling-Meaning Connection ...................................................10 LECTURE 3 Words for Lying, Swindling, and Conniving ......................................17 LECTURE 4 Words That Express Annoyance and Disgust ..................................24 LECTURE 5 Fighting Words and Peaceful Words ................................................31 LECTURE 6 Going beyond Dictionary Meanings..................................................38 LECTURE 7 Wicked Words ..................................................................................46 LECTURE 8 Words for Beginnings and Endings ..................................................52 LECTURE 9 Words Expressing Fear, Love, and Hatred.......................................58 LECTURE 10 Words for the Everyday and the Elite ...............................................63 iii Table of Contents LECTURE 11 Words from Gods and Heroes ..........................................................69 LECTURE 12 Humble Words and Prideful Words ..................................................76 LECTURE 13 High-Frequency Greek and Latin Roots ...........................................83 LECTURE 14 Words Relating to Belief and Trust ...................................................90 LECTURE 15 Words for the Way We Talk ..............................................................97 LECTURE 16 Words for Praise, Criticism, and Nonsense ....................................104 LECTURE 17 Eponyms from Literature and History ............................................. 111 LECTURE 18 Thinking, Teaching, and Learning Words ....................................... 119 LECTURE 19 Words for the Diligent and the Lazy ...............................................126 LECTURE 20 Words That Break and Words That Join.........................................132 LECTURE 21 6RPH+LJK8WLOLW\*UHHNDQG/DWLQ$I¿[HV......................................139 LECTURE 22 Cranky Words and Cool Words ......................................................145 LECTURE 23 Words for Courage and Cowardice ................................................151 iv Table of Contents LECTURE 24 Reviewing Vocabulary through Literature .......................................158 LECTURE 25 Words for Killing and Cutting ..........................................................165 LECTURE 26 A Vocabulary Grab Bag ..................................................................171 LECTURE 27 Words for Words .............................................................................176 LECTURE 28 Specialty Words for Language .......................................................182 LECTURE 29 Nasty Words and Nice Words ........................................................192 LECTURE 30 Words for the Really Big and the Very Small..................................198 LECTURE 31 Spelling as a Vocabulary Tool ........................................................205 LECTURE 32 A Medley of New Words .................................................................212 LECTURE 33 Building Vocabulary through Games ..............................................217 LECTURE 34 Words English Borrowed and Never Returned...............................224 LECTURE 35 More Foreign Loan Words ..............................................................232 LECTURE 36 Forgotten Words and Neologisms .................................................237 v Table of Contents SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Answers to Review Questions ........................................................245 Glossary of Target Words ...............................................................263 Bibliography ....................................................................................279 vi Building a Better Vocabulary Scope: I n one of the most insightful statements on vocabulary ever penned, Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” As Mark Twain knew, a powerful vocabulary consists of more than simply knowing a lot of words; it’s the ability to grasp the “just right” word to communicate precisely what you want to say or write. Acquiring the type of deep and nuanced vocabulary knowledge that Twain was talking about doesn’t come from simply studying lists of vocabulary ZRUGV DORQJVLGH GLFWLRQDU\ GH¿QLWLRQV 7KLV WUDGLWLRQDO ³RQHZRUGDWD time” approach that many of us experienced in school often leads to surfacelevel vocabulary knowledge that lasts only until the Friday quiz. ,Q WKLV FRXUVH \RX¶OO OHDUQ KRZ WR PRYH EH\RQG GH¿QLWLRQDO YRFDEXODU\ NQRZOHGJHWRZDUGDULFKYRFDEXODU\WKDW¶VEURDGGHHSDQGÀH[LEOHDQGODVWV DOLIHWLPH7RGRWKLVZH¶OOFRYHU¿YHFRUHSULQFLSOHVRIYRFDEXODU\OHDUQLQJ LQ WKH ¿UVW OHFWXUH7KHVH SULQFLSOHV ZLOO VHUYH DV WRROV LQ \RXU YRFDEXODU\ toolbox that you can apply as we explore new target words throughout the course. You will use these tools to learn word meanings deeply so that you’ll remember and be able to use the words years from now. As we move through the lectures, we’ll meet and explore a host of vocabulary words that are, by turns, snappy, lively, powerful, and beautiful, such as JDGÀ\, Promethean, JHPnjWOLFKNHLW, and hornswoggle. The lectures are organized thematically; for example, in a lecture on liars and swindlers, we’ll H[DPLQH D VHW RI ZRUGV IRU FRQQLYLQJ ÀLPÀDPPHUV VXFK DV PRXQWHEDQNV and sophists, honoring the way our minds organize vocabulary by meaning. We’ll also take the time to examine words in rich context to get a better feel for how to actually use them in speaking and writing. In addition, you’ll learn to make personal connections to word meanings so that these words “stick” in your lexicon—the mental library of word meanings we all possess. Along the way, we’ll see that there’s no such thing as an exact synonym 1 DQGH[SORUHWKH¿QHUGLVWLQFWLRQVLQPHDQLQJDPRQJFORVHO\UHODWHGZRUGV in the end, you’ll know the difference between such words as specious and spurious and when to use each. Importantly, we will also delve into the etymology and morphology of words—that is, their history and structure. This will enable you to harness the power of the “meaning system” that is deeply embedded in the DNA of the English language, applying your growing knowledge of high-utility Latin DQG *UHHN DI¿[HV DQG URRWV WR OHDUQ VWRUH DQG PDNH FRQQHFWLRQV DPRQJ words. To guide your learning, you will also create a vocabulary notebook that will serve as a place to collect your growing vocabulary. Scope By the end of this course, you’ll know many new, powerful, and beautiful vocabulary words. Just as importantly, you’ll know how to learn vocabulary for yourself. You’ll have your own toolbox of strategies and resources that ZLOOHTXLS\RXIRUDOLIHWLPHRIYRFDEXODU\OHDUQLQJŶ 2 Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary Lecture 1 O ne reason to spend time and effort improving your vocabulary is that words have the power to change how you see the world. Further, our ability to use vocabulary effectively is one of the primary means by which we communicate and connect with important people in our lives. Choosing just the right word adds precision and clarity to our speech and writing. Words are the tools we use to inform, advise, persuade, and reason. But to start expanding your vocabulary, you need a structured approach—and WKDW¶VZKDWZH¶OOOHDUQLQWKLVOHFWXUH¿YHSULQFLSOHVIRUEXLOGLQJDQGXVLQJ DULFKYRFDEXODU\7RJHWKHUWKHVHSULQFLSOHVSURYLGHDQHI¿FLHQWPHWKRGIRU harnessing the power of the English language. The Dimmer-Switch Phenomenon z Learning words is not an all-or-nothing affair, as though one moment, you’ve never heard of a word and then, immediately after looking it up in the dictionary, you become an expert user of that ZRUG7KDWZRXOGEHOLNHÀLSSLQJDOLJKWVZLWFKIURPRIIWRRQ z A better metaphor that vocabulary researchers use is the dimmer switch, which gradually increases the amount of light in a room. Vocabulary learning works in the same way—gradually and LQFUHPHQWDOO\ :H ¿UVW OHDUQ WKH GLFWLRQDU\ GH¿QLWLRQ RI D ZRUG then gradually become comfortable with how it’s used in various contexts as we try it out ourselves. z Most of us can rate our knowledge of a particular word on a scale of 1 to 4, using the levels proposed by the educational researcher Edgar Dale: 1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 2. I’ve heard of the word before, but I’m not sure what it means. 3 z 3. I know the word and can recognize and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 4. I know the word well and can use it in writing and speaking. As you learn new words throughout this course, remember the dimmer-switch metaphor. Don’t feel that you have to master new words immediately, as if your brain were an on/off switch. It may take some time and practice before you feel comfortable with a new word. ż In fact, we know from vocabulary research that it takes multiple exposures across many contexts before we really start to “know” a word. Lecture 1: Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary ż For example, one study conducted by literacy researchers Beck, Perfetti, and McKeown found that we need 12 exposures to a word before there’s a difference in our comprehension of a passage containing that word. Factotum (noun) Someone hired to do a variety of jobs; a jack-of-all-trades. 4 z Let’s explore the word factotum as an example of best practices LQ YRFDEXODU\ OHDUQLQJ )LUVW ZH VWDUW ZLWK D FOHDU GH¿QLWLRQ $ factotum is someone hired to do a variety of jobs, someone who has many responsibilities, a jack-of-all-trades. z Second, place the word in context, using it in a sentence. For H[DPSOH³7HVVDWKHRI¿FHIDFWRWXPGRHVWKHELOOLQJDQVZHUVWKH phones, helps out in the PR department, and even knows how to cook a mean blueberry scone—she’s indispensable!” z Third, make connections to the word. Think of some examples of a factotum in your life, such as a general handyman or even your mother. To make the connection personal, picture the word itself next to an image of this person in your mind. z Fourth, take the time to explore the word in a little more depth. ż In this case, you might learn that the root of factotum, fac, is from the Latin verb facio, meaning “to make or do.” Another English word that starts with fac is factory, a place where things are made. The key word factory can help you remember the meaning of the root fac. ż z In addition, the Latin word totum—the second part of factotum—means “all.” Thus, a factotum is someone who “does it all.” If you remember factotum in this way, you’ll never forget it. To make factotum memorable, we used four principles of vocabulary learning; we’ll use these same principles throughout the course: ż 'H¿QLWLRQV)RUHDFKWDUJHWZRUGZH¶OOOHDUQDFOHDUGH¿QLWLRQ that distills the critical aspects of what the word means—and what it doesn’t mean. ż Context. We will then place each target word in the context of a sentence to get a feel for how it’s actually used. Remember, if you want to really know a shark, you study it in the ocean—its natural habitat. If you want to really know a word, you study how it behaves in its natural habitat—sentences, paragraphs, and books. ż Connections. We’ll make connections to each word. Think of a vocabulary word as a label for an underlying concept. With factotum, you already knew the basic concept—everyone knows someone who does a little bit of everything—but you may not have had the label for it—the word factotum. We connected the new word/label to your known concept. 5 ż Morphology. Next, we’ll explore each word’s morphological structure. Morphology is the study of the structure of words, including meaningful word parts, such as roots, and patterns and processes of word formation. The morphological system in English can be an incredibly powerful system for learning vocabulary if you know how to tap into it. To remember the word factotum, we broke it down by its meaningful parts: the Latin root fac and the word totum. Procrustean (adjective) Lecture 1: Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary Tending to produce conformity by arbitrary, ruthless, or violent means. 6 z %HIRUHZHPRYHRQWRWKH¿IWKSULQFLSOHOHW¶VSUDFWLFHWKH¿UVWIRXU with the word procrustean. This word means “tending to produce conformity by arbitrary, ruthless, or violent means.” z Here’s procrustean in context: “Even though the student’s poem unanimously won the all-county writing contest, the procrustean English teacher gave her an F for failing to dot the i in her name.” z Now make a personal connection. Have you ever met someone ZKR¶VFRPSOHWHO\LQÀH[LEOHDVWLFNOHUIRUUXOHVDQGUHJXODWLRQV"7U\ to associate that person in your mind with the word procrustean. z Procrustean comes from Greek mythology. Procrustes was a mythical bandit of Attica who would waylay hapless travelers and DWWHPSWWR¿WWKHPWRKLVLURQEHG,IWUDYHOHUVZHUHWRRORQJIRUWKH bed, he’d cut off their feet. If they were too short, he’d stretch them out. A procrustean bed has come to mean an arbitrary standard to which something is forced to conform. ż You now know an etymological narrative about procrustean. The etymology of a word is its history, including its origin, evolution, spread to other languages, and shifts in meaning and form over time. A narrative, of course, is a story. Thus, an etymological narrative is a story about the history of a word. ‹À\6QRZUL6WRFN7KLQNVWRFN $VLJQL¿FDQWSDUWRIDZRUG¶VHW\PRORJ\LVLWVPRUSKRORJ\RIWHQLQFOXGLQJWKH /DWLQRU*UHHNURRWVIURPZKLFKLWVSUDQJ ż As cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham notes, our minds are hardwired to remember stories. This is why we JHQHUDOO\¿QGLWHDVLHUWRUHPHPEHUVWRULHVSHRSOHWHOOXVWKDQ information presented in a non-story format, such as facts in a science textbook. Etymological narratives can serve as powerful vocabulary-learning tools. Semantic Chunking z Once we’ve used these four principles to learn new words, how do ZHRUJDQL]HWKHZRUGVLQDZD\WKDWPDNHVVHQVH",QRWKHUZRUGV how do we store these words in our lexicon—our mental library of word meanings—so that when we need to retrieve them for use, we NQRZZKHUHWR¿QGWKHP" z 7KLVTXHVWLRQEULQJVXVWRRXU¿IWKYRFDEXODU\OHDUQLQJSULQFLSOH Word learning should be structured. And indeed, the best structure IRUOHDUQLQJQHZZRUGVLVRQHWKDWUHÀHFWVWKHZD\WKDWRXUEUDLQV naturally organize and store information—in chunks. 7 Lecture 1: Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary 8 z The idea of chunking vocabulary items is related to a well-known concept in cognitive science: schema theory. According to this theory, we organize and categorize knowledge by abstract mental frameworks or structures called schema. Think of schema as mental ¿OH IROGHUV LQ ZKLFK ZH RUJDQL]H LQIRUPDWLRQ 6FKHPDV KHOS XV keep track of information in our brains and avoid the pitfalls of the “mental junk drawer.” z Compare the chunking technique of vocabulary learning—grouping related words into categories by meaning—with the traditional approach to vocabulary instruction that many of us experienced in school. ż Often, we were given lists of vocabulary words to memorize that were organized alphabetically, such as baleful, ballyhoo, bastion, bedlam, and so on. Many of us learned these words for the test on Friday and promptly forgot them by the following Monday. We simply stuffed these words into our mental junk drawers, not making connections among them or organizing them into chunks by common meaning. ż A better approach to learning vocabulary would be to give students a list of related words, such as NHUIXIÀH, imbroglio, melee, hullabaloo, tussle, GRQQ\EURRN, and spat. If this was our list for the week, we’d not only study the common meaning WKH\DOOVKDUH²DW\SHRIGLVDJUHHPHQWRU¿JKW²EXWZHZRXOG DOVR H[DPLQH WKH ¿QHU VKDGHV RI GLVWLQFWLRQ DQG QXDQFHV RI meaning among the words. ż If we organize our vocabulary learning by meaning, honoring the way our brains work, we will dramatically improve our chances of remembering and using new words. This method of organizing words by meaning is known as VHPDQWLFFKXQNLQJ. 7RJHWKHUZLWKGH¿QLWLRQFRQWH[WFRQQHFWLRQDQGPRUSKRORJ\ this principle will give us a solid foundation for building a better vocabulary. Review Questions 1. /LVWWKH¿YHSULQFLSOHVRIYRFDEXODU\OHDUQLQJ 2. How does the idea of semantic chunking relate to schema theory in FRJQLWLYHVFLHQFH" 3. $ SHUVRQ ZKR LV FRPSOHWHO\ LQÀH[LEOH PLJKW EH GHVFULEHG DV __________. 4. &KULVZKRFRXOG¿[DOHDN\IDXFHWUHSODFHDEURNHQORFNDQGFRUUHFWO\ hook up a DVR, was valued as the neighborhood __________. 9 The Spelling-Meaning Connection Lecture 2 I Q RXU ¿UVW OHFWXUH ZH GLVFXVVHG ¿YH FRUH SULQFLSOHV RI HIIHFWLYH YRFDEXODU\ OHDUQLQJ VWDUWLQJ ZLWK FOHDU GH¿QLWLRQV SXWWLQJ ZRUGV LQWR context, making connections between known concepts and new words, exploring the morphology and etymology of words, and chunking words by meaning in our mental lexicons. This last principle takes advantage of the fact that our minds organize information, including words, according to VFKHPDRUPHQWDO¿OHIROGHUV,QWKLVOHFWXUHZH¶OOGHOYHDELWGHHSHULQWR the morphological system of English to explore one of the big “secrets” of vocabulary learning: Just as our minds organize language, so, too, language has a system for organizing words. Lecture 2: The Spelling-Meaning Connection Building a Large Vocabulary z The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is generally considered to be the most authoritative dictionary of the English language. The second edition of the OEDLQFOXGHVPRUHWKDQGH¿QLWLRQV 10 z Most of us “know” only a portion of these words, meaning that we understand them if we encounter them in reading. And most of us feel comfortable using an even smaller portion in expressive language—speech or writing. For example, a common estimate for the average vocabulary of a high school graduate is approximately 40,000 words, and for an average college graduate, approximately 60,000 to 75,000 words. z Of course, there is no way that anyone can obtain a 75,000-word vocabulary through direct instruction, one word at a time. That’s why traditional word-by-word approaches to learning vocabulary aren’t the most effective. Instead, most people who possess large vocabularies acquire them through reading. As adults, we pick up the vast majority of new vocabulary incidentally through meaningful reading in connected text. © decisiveimages/iStock/Thinkstock. 0RVWSHRSOHZKRKDYHDGHHSEURDGÀH[LEOHYRFDEXODU\DUHDOVRDYLGUHDGHUV z This doesn’t mean that we should give up on studying vocabulary directly. But if we’re serious about improving vocabulary, in addition to wide reading, we need to be strategic and thoughtful DERXWKRZZHVWXG\ZRUGV²LQSDUWLFXODUXVLQJWKH¿YHSULQFLSOHV we’ve already discussed. Our language itself helps us in this study by organizing words by meaning—if we know how to look for this system. z English has a built-in system of meaning, or morphology, that is largely based on the classic Greek and Latin origins of our language. In fact, approximately 70 percent of English vocabulary LVGHULYHGIURP*UHHNDQG/DWLQURRWVDQGDI¿[HV7KRVHZKRNQRZ how to harness this morphological system are at a great advantage, not only when it comes to learning more words but also when it comes to storing them in their mental lexicons. The Spelling-Meaning Connection z One of the keys to unlocking this morphological system is a concept known as the spelling-meaning connection, a term coined 11 Lecture 2: The Spelling-Meaning Connection by vocabulary researcher Shane Templeton. Think of morphology as the umbrella term here, and the spelling-meaning connection as an important tool we can use to decode that system. The spellingmeaning connection also shows us that our spelling system makes more sense than you may think. z Consider, for example, the word health, which is spelled with a silent a. Notice that if we remove the last two letters of health— th—we get heal. That silent a gives us a visual clue to the fact that health is directly related in meaning to heal, healer, and so on. Thus, the spelling-meaning connection states: “Words that are related in spelling are often related in meaning, despite changes in sound.” z There are many other word pairs that illustrate the spelling-meaning connection in English, such as column/columnist, hymn/hymnal, and crumb/crumble. The spelling-meaning connection biases us WRUHWDLQWKHVLOHQWOHWWHUVLQRXUZULWWHQUHSUHVHQWDWLRQVRIWKH¿UVW words in these pairs, pointing us to the related second words. z Another example of a similar word pair is resign/resignation. A number of other words are related in spelling and meaning to resign, including sign, insignia, design, signal, VLJQL¿FDQW, and others. All these words are derived from the Latin root signum, which means “a symbol or mark.” They all share a common core meaning related to a common spelling. z When we use the morphological approach to learning words, we can begin to see why the great linguist Noam Chomsky said that the conventional English spelling system is “a near optimal system for the lexical representation of English words.” Many critics of our spelling system don’t understand that the system evolved to represent both sound and meaning. For this reason, knowing a little about spelling can actually improve your vocabulary knowledge. Analyzing fac Words z To further illustrate the spelling-meaning connection, let’s return to the word factotum. As you recall, we divided factotum into two 12